Gorgeous Grunge Birthday

I had a great time last night running a workshop for my former upline.  She has a great group of friends who love to craft together.  Because she is no longer running her own Make and Takes they hadn't been together in a while.  We had a blast reconnecting and stamping!  I shared the first project, the Starburst masking technique, in my previous post (click here to see it).  This is the second card that we did at last night's workshop:

Have I mentioned that I love Stampin' Up's "Gorgeous Grunge" stamp set?  Well I do!  I find it so versatile.  Stay tuned in the coming days for how to use it for Christmas Cards!

While I made this card using the Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango and Chocolate Chip side of the "Sweater Weather" DSP,  I used the other side of the DSP last night and used a Soft Sky background.  It looks great either way!

The sentiment comes from the "Express Yourself" hostess set.  I really like the font of this set and it has many different sentiments which makes it a great set to have on hand.  Contact me to learn how you can earn this set.

Happy Stamping!

Masculine Birthday

We spent last evening celebrating my husband's cousin's 30th birthday at our favourite Mexican restaurant....mmm, so yummy!  We had a great time and it was nice to catch up with extended family again.  I wanted to make a masculine birthday card for this occasion and turned again to my "Clockworks" stamp set.  I've mentioned before that I purchased this set on a whim and I'm SO glad that I did.  I love the "splat" in particular.

Another simple card really.  I did a lot of distressing and sponging edges on this one.  I chose to do a really simple colour scheme too.  Soft Suede and Very Vanilla are the staples with a little bit of Midnight Muse, Cajun Craze and Summer Starfruit.  The sentiment comes from the "Best Dad Ever" set.  Here's a close up on the clock:

 

 

When I first saw the seagull/swirl stamp as part of this set I wasn't sure what I thought.  I've found though that as a background stamp it works really well.  "Clockworks" was definitely a good investment!

 

Happy Stamping!

Happy Birthday Dad for SSC 261!

My father's birthday is this week and I turned to Stamping 411's Saturday Sketch Challenge to help with a layout for a card for him.  I had fun creating a "manly" card using my brand new "Clockworks" stamp set from Stampin' Up's new catalogue!  Love it!  I admit that visualising what could be created with this set is a little difficult for me, it really does lend itself to some cool designs.  Check out what I came up with:

Manly "Clockworks" card

I was really pleased with the result.  I had fun with lots of new product to make this card.  As I mentioned, "Clockworks" is a great new Stampin' Up stamp set and includes a great "splat" stamp which I stamped in Crumb Cake first.  I then used the "seagull splat" stamp in Soft Suede and finally stamped the cogs in Cajun Craze and Midnight Muse.

One of the other new product "bundles" I used was the "Itty Bitty Banners" stamp set and matching "Bitty Banners" Framelits dies.  What a great combination.  The DSP is "Comfort Cafe"....love it!  This collection of Designer Series Paper contains such versatile patterns and I really like the colour combinations.

I finished off the card with Early Espresso Baker's Twine and Linen Thread.  I found that the Baker's Twine was a little too white against the Very Vanilla so I took a sponge inked with Soft Suede ink and ran it along the thread a few times to "antique" it a little.  I also distressed the edges of the cardstock.

I mailed it off almost as soon as I finished it.  I hope he likes it : )

Here is a more concise list of products used:

Stamp Sets:  Clockworks, Itty Bitty Banners
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla card stock.  Comfort Cafe DSP.

Ink:  Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Midnight Muse and Cajun Craze

Accessories:  Bitty Banners Framelits dies, Early Espresso Bakers Twine, Linen Thread.

Happy Stamping!